Avon is a booming market for vacation rental real estate. With 1.3 million annual visitors to the Vail valley area (650,000 in winter, 650,000 in summer), it’s no wonder Avon boasts a high average daily rate of $455. Active rentals in the area have grown from 532 a few years ago to over 1,300 today. Avon is the “heart of the valley”, with easy access to Beaver Creek Ski Resort. It’s also 15 minutes from Vail.
Legally speaking, it’s also a fairly simple place to set up shop. Avon does not have Vail’s infamous “local agent” requirement, where every short term rental owner must have a designated agent an hour away from the property who can handle complaints 24/7. Nor is the law ambiguous or out of date. A special zone overlay district covering most of the city makes short term rentals explicitly legal, and several planned unit developments (PUD) allow them as well.
Like in many cities, the most common rentals on VRBO and Airbnb are smaller but not tiny. Two or three bedroom homes make up 66% of the available active short term rentals. While there are a few smaller or much larger properties, this is the norm for Avon.
As far as amenities, most properties have kitchens, parking, Internet, and a washer and dryer, along with air conditioning and of course heating. Perhaps more surprising, over 60% of short term rentals have a pool and over 60% have a hot tub.
There are several places you can go to research specific properties. Airbnb and VRBO themselves are an obvious place to survey the competition. You can track prices at various times of year (note that prices change significantly during the winter) and note the distance from various attractions as well as amenities offered. Trulia and Zillow can give you a sense of how much these houses will cost you to purchase. One tip is to visit Avon’s website for short term rentals and make sure the properties you’re interested in are legal to rent out. Another tip is not to fall in love with any single particular property—real estate can move quickly and buyer demand has been high recently, so you’ll want to keep an open mind about the property you settle on.
If you’d like to dig deeper into the data, you have a few options. We subscribe to the rental research platform Airdna, and that has very granular information on occupancy rates, average daily rates, and growth trends over time. A relator can also be a good ally, but find one with a lot of short term rental experience. Finally, we’re always happy to advise people on short term rental investments. Connect with Scott Millard at scott@awayagents.com and he’ll set up an appointment for a chat.